


Meta On Steve aka "Smooth Dog" – a Short Character Study

by CowandCalf



Series: Steve McGarrett - Character Study [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Character Study, Fanish Work, I try to find an explanation to why Steve earned his nick name smooth dog, Meta, Metafiction, Other, Steve McGarrett Character Study, This is not a story, an explanation about why Steve's shy with women, i draw an arch from his youth to 10.04, this is a meta on Steve as Smooth Dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 15:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21120773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CowandCalf/pseuds/CowandCalf
Summary: This is fanish work. It's a meta on Steve McGarrett and how he has earned his nickname 'Smooth Dog'. Steve McGarrett and his way with women. The answer to this you'll find in his youth.





	Meta On Steve aka "Smooth Dog" – a Short Character Study

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N**  
Since the first episode of season 10, there is this itch that won't let me rest. Steve and women. That should be a settled deal. What we have seen so far is the opposite of how we experience Steve's behavior in the new season when it comes to trying to date a woman. 
> 
> This is not a story. This is a meta, a character study on Steve McGarrett. I read on the blog of @a03commentoftheday that it's also possible to post fanish work on AO3. I have written some metas about Steve and also about Danny. Tumblr isn't such a great place to post such essays. The get swallowed fast with all the new posts piling up on everyone's dash. And there are a lot of people who are not on Tumblr and that's why, for the first time, I've decided to post this also on here. [Post on Tumblr](https://cowandcalf.tumblr.com/post/188492669603/meta-on-steve-aka-smooth-dog-a-short-character).
> 
> This is just an idea. It's a try to explain why Steve acts the way he does in season 10. This is my personal view and I don't make any claim that this is complete.
> 
> This is not beta read. All mistakes are my own.
> 
> **Disclaimer:** I don't own the show or any character. No money is made from my stories and no copyright infringement is intended.

Steve McGarrett and his way with women. The answer to this you'll find in his youth.

In season 10, Steve reveals an uncharacteristic streak we haven't seen so far. He's uncomfortable and insecure when it comes to the task to ask a woman out on a date. He's downright shy and he squirms as if the assignment he needs to face is too big and an emotional steeplechase. He likes to take things slow. He wants to wait for the right moment and he hates being pushed because he kind of isn't ready. At all.

And the reason why he hits this invisible wall as a grown adult in his forties is that he has never had to learn how to do it. It's his first time ever that he needs to be charming, forthcoming and that he has to dig up the courage to approach a woman and to ask her out. What Steve experiences Danny has undergone in his youth as a teenager. And I guess, most of the grown men from the Five-0 task force made the same experience as Danny. But not Steve. Steve has never had to fight for attention or to fight for being seen.

If you want to understand why Steve acts quite insecure when it comes to women and asking them out for a date you have to go way back into his youth. 

Actually, I start with Steve in High School. Steve's a jock. _Steve's a quarterback. Steve's the best quarterback Kukui High has ever had._ Steve's a star! He's the most wanted guy at school. He's the secret dream of almost every girl (for sure also the dream of some female teachers) which visits Kukui High.

Steve might be a shy teenager. He might have some difficulties to act cool and collected around girls. He might be blushing and stuttering and he might also hide behind the back of his friends he hangs out with. He eats in the cantina, and he might have no idea what to talk about with girls who always giggle and glance his way. He has Mary as a bar and he doesn't even understand his little sister. He fights with her and he knows she's a girl and that he loves different stuff. But her world is quite a mystery to him. He rather sticks around with his friends and pals, his surfer guys and his ohana.

Yes, they're at the beach. They surf, they meet girls. It's normal to see everyone in swim trunks and bikinis, to be in the water, to chill together. Everything comes very naturally.

But the most important puzzle piece is Steve the quarterback! Steve, the jock! Steve the outstanding, good-looking, very handsome, super trained, awesome talented and super cute jock! Steve is hot as fuck! He's a dream version of the beach boy, surfer boy comes true.

Hawaii, High School, Football – the holy trinity. And the king is Steve, like their famous, undefeated quarterback. He even pulverizes all of Chin's school records. He's even more famous. Steve is the freaking catch!! Even if he feels uncomfortable with the fame he has to carry and he has to deal with. I'm so sure he also loves it because all girls (and boys and teachers, male and female) admire him. Look up to him, love him, cheer for him, drool over him… damn, Steve's the jackpot!

And he knows it! 

Steve works out tons. He looks fabulous. Tanned skin for miles and miles, trained, hard abs, a radiant smile, a shy attitude, fierceness on the gridiron, determined and dedicated to his task. He's a freaking wet dream for every teenage girl in the schoolyard.

And then there are Friday nights! Play nights! It's football madness and this adrenaline rush that comes with the great entrance of the player who fight for Kukui High. The boys are warriors out on the field. They get celebrated like kings! The crowd is cheering and Steve kicks ass on the field. He pushes his team to the max, makes them win. 

He's a fucking badass and a sexy star!

And guess what? On the benches, at the sidelines, in the spectator area, there are girls as far as the eye can reach. They scream they cry, they cheer and they yell Steve's name. And some of them have banners with Steve's name on it and withdrawn hearts! And don't forget the cheerleaders! Wow! Sexy girls, trained and skilled and so into their football team they support. And there's always the cheerleader queen who normally gets to win the quarterback of the football team.

I'm so sure of it, Steve got kissed many times after a game. He never had to fight for attention. No, on the contrary, he was almost harassed with attention, with praises and with girls who would love to have sex with him, kiss him, flirt with him. Steve is always surrounded by girls who want to be near him because he's the star quarterback of Kukui High.

The girls surround him in clusters!

And if a girl behaves difficult, demands too much, Steve moves on to the next one. He's young. He's bursting with strength and testosterone! He can have any girl he wants. He can have the High School cheerleader queen. That's the jackpot, man!

Smooth Dog is on his way.

Now, change of scenery. His mother dies. He and Mary get send away. A tragedy takes place and alters Steve's soul. His emotional growth comes to an abrupt halt. He swallows the pain and hurt, fear and emotional agony because his father sends him off to the mainland. 

A terrible, hard path starts for young, carefree Steve. The lingering sadness gets added to his character and the hard gushes caused by emotional pain never really heal. He learns to deal with it. He might withdraw and be for himself. I'm sure at Carlsberg he hides behind sports and physical exhaustion to find some peace, to set his mind to rest. He's a brilliant student and once he accepts his fate he digs his heel into the ground and just takes off because that's how he's wired.

He moves on. He grows into a strong, quiet, wonderful young man. His energy is radiant. He's surrounded by this faint hint of adventure, sadness, and strength. Warriors and heroes are made from that material. Steve's breathtakingly handsome. And he wants to be a SEAL.

I guess he has some girls, who are interested in him. But his mother's death and the separation of his family still eats at his soul. He doesn't have the strength or the interest to deal with a relationship.

And suddenly he's together with strong, young, hungry men. They fight to get through BUD/s. They all have one goal. He sees his comrades fail. He knows only the strongest survive. Steve's a fighter. And he has to prove something to himself.

The deep-rooted doubt is eating at the bones of his soul. His father has sent him away – his only son. Is he loved? Why can't he be with his father? Has he disappointed his father in some sort? Steve will never ever again be free in his heart and his soul because deep down he thinks he has failed as a son.

And the only thing he can do is to be the best, the strongest, the fucking elite guy who proves everyone that he's the one! That he can beat nature and his own will. Every supervisor, every chief, every boss, every drill sergeant turns into his father and he wants to make them proud. 

Until he finds Joe and Joe guides him and Steve's hungry, empty heart can rest a bit. But it never really heals.

SEALs are impressive. They are strong and a women's magnet. Steve's a man and he also needs sex, wants sex, has sex. He's healthy and everything is a freaking challenge for him. I'm sure he bets with his friends and SEAL buddies which girl he takes home tonight. He doesn't have to go looking. Again, the girls and the women hunt them. The female gender gets drawn to strong warriors, lonesome fighters with this handsomeness and this sad streak around the eyes. Steve's a jackpot once again.

Smooth Dog is born.

And he doesn't treat the female sex so nicely. He grows up in a world where orders, obeying and giving orders, asking for obedience is on the daily agenda. He serves and he has one aim. To be a SEAL, to be an elite soldier. He will get forged in hell of terrible training schedules and exclusive ops and drills and exercises and deployments.

Women and how to deal with them happen on the sideline. Steve can't develop the finesse that's needed to really deal with the female sex. He gets to know the women who also join the Navy and the military. And those are just as many exceptions to the rules as every other person in this world. It's a unique universe with different rules and laws.

And Steve doesn't have any difficulties to find a way to flirt and to be with a woman because he's again a star. He's a SEAL. He's special and hot and an incredible catch. Steve doesn't really pay attention to it. Because his focus is on the task, on the ops, on the mission, and on his brothers. 

And there are some adventures we know of. He's not interested in a relationship. Even though, Steve's emotional and he falls quickly for someone, the pull towards to serve his country is way bigger. He doesn't want to settle.

And then he meets Catherine. And Catherine endures a lot of Steve's demanding attitude. The way he uses her for his own good, for his work as the head of Five-0 demands a meta on its own. Cath just bears and takes everything Steve's dishes out. He's not always so friendly and nice and loving with Catherine. But he doesn't have to work for it either. Catherine is there, always, whenever Steve calls, and orders and demands, she delivers. They end up in a relationship Steve doesn't really work for. It just happens.

(Not gonna move further into this direction. That's for another time.)

So, let's sum this up.

The whole tragedy ends with the way Cath and Steve break up. Steve starts to realize what kind of a woman (in a good way) he has had over all those years. But he missed out so many clear signs. Anyway, he's alone again and for the first time in like forever he realizes there are not that many women just gathering around him without him doing something for it.

But he's still young and bursting with energy and strength. And he meets Lynn and their first date goes down like a freaking drill on a paintball weekend. Steve has fun. He's the hero again and Lynn is smitten and just a frightened and a bit in shock. Lynn teaches Steve that he has to give his fair bit to this relationship and Steve also learns with Lynn that he can't just move on like he always has.

Lynn is a breaking point where Steve realizes for the first time that getting a woman is work, keeping her is even harder work and having a well-functioning relationship is almost impossible to manage. It dawns on him that it's not all for granted, that there are women who give zero fuck about a Smooth Dog in cargo pants. They want a man, a boyfriend, who can talk, who doesn't forget Valentine's Day and who loves to go shopping with them.

Steve's not happy. He's flustered, and bewildered and a bit in shock and he doesn't deal with it.

The years move on, time flies by and he undergoes terrible injuries and terrible losses. Ten years is a long time. 

But one day he finds himself sitting at the table and drinking his coffee while he tries to ignore the pain in his bones and he asks himself how the fuck does he make a woman go on a date with him.

And suddenly, Steve doesn't have the support any more of being quarterback, being a young warrior, being SEAL, being the tough head of the task force. He's older, he has issues and the women in his world are emotionally grown and very demanding in a way he has never ever delivered. 

So, that's how Steve ends up standing in the dog park with Danny and kind of gets cold feet. He just doesn't know how to deal with it. It's like he's living it backward and experiences all the insecurities others go through when they are teenagers. Steve has never learned how to really win a woman over just with being Steve.

And last but not least. The first person who doesn't take the shit Steve dishes out, who isn't impressed by all his awards and highly decorated Navy career, is one Danny Williams, highly decorated Detective himself. And that's where another story begins.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading.
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://cowandcalf.tumblr.com/)


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